Tag Archives: joseph fisch

Battery Park City Spent Big on “Frivolous and Superfluous Items”

If the Battery Park City Authority is closed down, Mayor Bloomberg could take over.

Chairwoman of Community Board 1, Julie Menin, has called for the Battery Park City Authority to be “sunsetted,” according to DNAInfo.  Control of the neighborhood could be handed to Mayor Bloomberg. A state-led shut down of the organization was also suggested.

New York State Inspector General Joseph Fisch issued a press release last friday, saying the Battery Park City Authority “spent more than $300,000 on parties, lunches and gifts from 2005 to 2008, including $30,000 on employee meals, $13,000 for annual catered summer picnics and $14,000 for annual holiday parties for a 60-person staff and guests.” The release, available for download here, also notes questionable charitable donations. Between 2004 and 2008, over $4 billion was given to the Yonkers Puerto Rican Day Parade and the Queens Botanical Gardens, which “had little or no connection to BPCA’s mission.”

With such lavish spending practices in the past, and the planned rise of ground rent, should the Battery Park City Authority be closed down and the neighborhood handed over to Mayor Bloomberg?